Case Information
*1 8:25-cv-00151-RFR-MDN Doc # 23 Filed: 10/31/25 Page 1 of 2 - Page ID # 791
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEBRASKA TIANA BARNES,
Plaintiff, 8:25CV151
v.
ORDER FRANK BISIGNANO, Commissioner of the
Social Security Administration,
Defendant.
This matter is before the Court on plaintiff Tiana Barnes’s (“Barnes”) Motion for Attorney Fees (Filing No. 21) under the Equal Access to Justice Act (“EAJA”), see 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d), which authorizes an award of reasonable attorney fees and other expenses in certain civil actions brought “against the United States.” See 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d)(1)(A). The defendant, Commissioner of Social Security Frank Bisignano (“Commissioner”), agrees (Filing No. 22) the Court should award Barnes attorney fees in the requested amount of $3,698.72 as compensation for all legal services her counsel rendered in this case.
That proposed award represents 14.35 hours of work at $257.75 an hour. In support of Barnes’s motion, she has submitted an itemization of her attorneys’ time as well as Consumer Price Index (“CPI”) data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. See 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d)(2)(A) (stating the Court may award fees in excess of $125 per hour if warranted by an increase in the cost of living); see also Miller v. Alamo , 983 F.2d 856, 861 (8th Cir. 1993) (noting that the CPI “constituted proper proof of the increased cost of living” and “an increase in the fee awards based on the CPI is proper”).
In accordance with Astrue v. Ratliff , 560 U.S. 586, 589-90 (2010), the parties acknowledge the EAJA fee award is payable directly to Barnes and subject to offset to *2 8:25-cv-00151-RFR-MDN Doc # 23 Filed: 10/31/25 Page 2 of 2 - Page ID # 792 satisfy any pre-existing debt she may owe to the United States. Barnes requests that the Court order the fees be delivered to her attorney at Kappelman Law Firm for distribution.
After careful review, the Court finds Barnes’s unopposed motion should be approved. The fee award satisfies the EAJA’s statutory requirements, see 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d)(1)(A), and is reasonable under the circumstances of this case. Accordingly,
IT IS ORDERED:
1. Plaintiff Tiana Barnes’s Motion for Attorney Fees (Filing No. 21) is approved.
2. Barnes is awarded attorney fees in the amount of $3,698.72, subject to any
administrative offset required to satisfy any pre-existing debt she may owe to the United States.
3. The Social Security Administration shall make the fee award payable to
Barnes and deliver the payment to Kappelman Law Firm at its address of record.
4. A separate judgment will issue.
Dated this 31st day of October 2025.
BY THE COURT: Robert F. Rossiter, Jr . Chief United States District Judge